Meet Katelyn

Welcome to the KJ Blog! I’m Katelyn James, and my husband Michael and I are a VA wedding photography team based in Richmond, Virginia. We hope you grab some coffee (or a diet coke, in my case) and enjoy viewing our latest work, browsing resources for photographers, and getting a little peek into our life! I’m thrilled you stopped by!

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these awesome flowers go to waste! I bought these yesterday from a local GROCERY STORE and made these arrangements. We used them for a project yesterday and I’ll admit it, I was so very proud of my bouquet! I’m no Janie Medley, but I think I have a few floral skills hidden deep within me. I know NOTHING about floral design but I think my grocery store bouquet is pretty cute!! I’m hoping it lives a few more days so I can keep staring at it every time I pass through the kitchen! So today’s WeddingWednesday is more like the good old days when I first started Wedding Wednesday’s and I actually designed wedding ideas.

I had time to do that in college but once I got engaged and had my first real wedding season, my free time slipped away from me. So today I’m talking about DIY wedding arrangements and CLUSTERS! I love CLUSTERS. When I say “Clusters” I am talking about all different sized vases and containers filled with different flowers and then arranged together to make one centerpiece! We had clusters of cabbage, hydrangeas and tulips at our wedding and I loved it! However, there are some tricks to this. For those of you brides who are collecting your own vases and containers, here’s tip #1:

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1. Collect all different HEIGHTS of glassware. If all of your vases are the same height, you will lose so much dimension in your display. Different sizes and heights make for awesome CLUSTERS! However, if your wedding is coming soon and you don’t have time to buy new glassware at different heights, just find some old books or something else that can work as risers! (SEE BELOW)

3. Use your different heights in a way that works together. So you wouldn’t place the TALLEST vase with the little BABY vase… there would be too much space in between the different heights and that would look a little odd and unfinished. Create your clusters in a way that creates a continuous line from vase to vase. Does that make sense? It’s so hard to explain this! Basically, if you have one super tall vase and a baby vase, they are too far a part to create good composition. Group your vases together with other vases that will work well together!

4. After you have some smaller clusters, you can start creating BIGGER clusters!! This is fun!!!! This is taking it to the next level. If you REALLY want to go the extra mile, add one non-floral piece like this awesome fruit holder I bought it yesterday at HOMEGOODS! Michael saw it and said “Wait, you paid money for that?!!” haha He doesn’t understand that this fruit holder is super photogenic!

Brides!! If you are like me and know nothing about flowers….. start loving ranunculus!! (Purple-ish flower on the right!). One, you’ll sound cool because “ranunculus” is a big word and two, they are super photogenic flowers!!

Totally agree about the ranuncs – Where have these flowers been hiding? I’m making my own bridesmaid bouquet for a June wedding – are you going to do a “how to” for those? I am the antithesis of artistic…

Two things I love about this: (1) Ranunculus and (2) that amazing fruit holder. I discovered ranunculus a couple years ago and have adored them ever since! And I’m pretty sure I’m going to go hit up my local HomeGoods and scavenge for the fruit holder!

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Katelyn and her husband Michael are a husband and wife photography team based in Virginia. While they photograph all kinds of weddings – local and destination; in castles, beaches, and barns – their timeless style especially thrives while photographing vineyard, plantation and estate weddings in Charlottesville and Richmond VA. KATELYN JAMES : JOYFUL, GENUINE, TIMELESS.